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Yes, you can chop the pollen sacs. I've been chopping the sacs of 3 hermies for 2 weeks now (harvest is now).
Found them a little late, there were one or two on each plant and one or two had opened. From that moment on I spent 20 mins a day searching and chopping. As soon as I saw any sac, I squirted down with water and snipped off very carefully.
After a few days the sacs seemed to stop growing. Only a few branches were seeded.
If you miss a couple though...

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